Krishnasamy
It is true that the Portuguese horse trader Fernao Nunez
castigates emperor Achyuta Raya unfairly. Over all from the available contemporaneous literary and epigraphical records Achyuta Raya emerges as a worthy monarch- pious, kind hearted, supporter of arts and a valiant warrior too but was hamstrung by limitations imposed on him. These were not of his own making and started dogging this king even prior to his ascending the throne and unfortunately for him continued even thereafter. I would identify these limitations as under.
1. We should remember that during substantial part of his adult life he was confined at the Chandragiri Fort by his elder brother-emperor the great Krishna Raya. Thus he lacked the grooming necessary in the art of royal politics when he ascended the throne. We should also rememember that Emperor Krishna Raya himself chose Achyuta to be the successor only when he was on death bed.
2. The above did not provide Achyuta with any meaningful interaction with the powerful power brokers in the empire's capital at Vijayanagara which was an essential element for the person being seated on the throne. Thus the action of emperor Krishna Raya who must have preferred Achyuta for valid reasons was not altogether helpful to Achyuta.
3. It appears that the two principal queens of Krishna Raya namely Tirumala Devi and Chinna Devi survived Krishna Raya's death and were still influential in the royal housefold. Naturally the queens would not have been entusiastic about Achyuta Raya's ascent to the throne especially in the context of their capable sons-in-law (Alia) Rama Raya and Tirumala Raya, the brothers from the house of Aravidu being available right there. The former of the brothers namely Rama Raya himself was an aspirant to the throne as conclusively proved by events in decades to follow. So the situation must have been pregnant with intrigues all around at the death of the great Krishna Raya.
4. So the intrigues and machinations of Aliya Rama Raya, must have been already at play when Achyuta proceeded from Chandragiri to Vijayanagara to assume power. Achyuta had therfore to proclaim himself the succeeding emperor to the great Krishna Raya by coronating himself at two temple centers of Tirumala and Kalahasti and march at the head of an army collected with the help of his two brothers-in-law, the Salakkaraju Tirumala brothers.
5. From this point onwards it was a constant struggle for Achyuta and considerable time and effort must have been spent by him in combating the endless intrigues of Rama Raya who did not hesitate to bring the arch enemy of the empire namely the Sultan of Bijapur in his support. In fact in the initial phase Achyuta had to march back to the southern reaches of the empire to quell rebelling chieftans and this he completed manfully. In this campaign Achyuta had to use the services of his brother-in law, Salakkaraju Hiriya Tirumala, the elder Salakkam brother probably taking care of his interests at the capital, his own son Prince Venkata being very young at this time.
6. Thus the circumstances compelled Achyuta to constantly rely on the two Salakkam brothers for support to ward of Aliya Rama Raya's continuing intrigues; with his own queen Varada Devi and his other consorts sharing the harem quarters with the queens of late Krishna Raya and consorts of Rama Raya which included a daughter of the Dowager Queen Tirumala Devi. Obviously this situation had to be continued out of necessity. Achyuta Raya reigned as the emperor till the time of his death in late 1941 or early 1942. It is to be noted that the empire remained intact until his death.
7. Achyuta Raya was noted for his support of arts and culture in the empire with fabulous contributions to temples and religious institutions irrespective of their denomination. He was also the patron of several poets in his court and one of his Queens Tirumalamba was his court poet. The legendary Carnatic music composer Purandaradasa was admired and patronised by him. It seems Emperor Achyuta Raya himself was much given to music for he was an adept Veena player. Being a well refined and cultured emperor he was more inclined to peace than unnecessary violence or warfare. Probably this induced him to patch up a peace with Rama Raya by allocating him some position of importance.
8. Fernao Nunez seemed to have talked to the one person who did not like the Salakkaraju brothers on whom Achyuta Raya had to rely to counter Rama Raya and his cohorts. The narration Nunez got about emperor Achyuta Raya could have been from a partison person or persons who were supporters of Rama Raya. Unfortunately for this emperor as events turned out in later years, past his death, the elder Salakkaraju brother proved to be a traitor to the emperor's young son who ascended the throne and his own sister the dowager queen Varada Devi. From my reading of the history my understanding is this. If at all emperor Achyuta can be faulted this may be for the reason that he probably lacked that aura and magnetic personality of his most illustrious predecessor. But then coming immediately after such an illustrious personality in itself must have weighed adversely in the perception of this noble emperor's reign.
Krishnasamy Narayanan
castigates emperor Achyuta Raya unfairly. Over all from the available contemporaneous literary and epigraphical records Achyuta Raya emerges as a worthy monarch- pious, kind hearted, supporter of arts and a valiant warrior too but was hamstrung by limitations imposed on him. These were not of his own making and started dogging this king even prior to his ascending the throne and unfortunately for him continued even thereafter. I would identify these limitations as under.
1. We should remember that during substantial part of his adult life he was confined at the Chandragiri Fort by his elder brother-emperor the great Krishna Raya. Thus he lacked the grooming necessary in the art of royal politics when he ascended the throne. We should also rememember that Emperor Krishna Raya himself chose Achyuta to be the successor only when he was on death bed.
2. The above did not provide Achyuta with any meaningful interaction with the powerful power brokers in the empire's capital at Vijayanagara which was an essential element for the person being seated on the throne. Thus the action of emperor Krishna Raya who must have preferred Achyuta for valid reasons was not altogether helpful to Achyuta.
3. It appears that the two principal queens of Krishna Raya namely Tirumala Devi and Chinna Devi survived Krishna Raya's death and were still influential in the royal housefold. Naturally the queens would not have been entusiastic about Achyuta Raya's ascent to the throne especially in the context of their capable sons-in-law (Alia) Rama Raya and Tirumala Raya, the brothers from the house of Aravidu being available right there. The former of the brothers namely Rama Raya himself was an aspirant to the throne as conclusively proved by events in decades to follow. So the situation must have been pregnant with intrigues all around at the death of the great Krishna Raya.
4. So the intrigues and machinations of Aliya Rama Raya, must have been already at play when Achyuta proceeded from Chandragiri to Vijayanagara to assume power. Achyuta had therfore to proclaim himself the succeeding emperor to the great Krishna Raya by coronating himself at two temple centers of Tirumala and Kalahasti and march at the head of an army collected with the help of his two brothers-in-law, the Salakkaraju Tirumala brothers.
5. From this point onwards it was a constant struggle for Achyuta and considerable time and effort must have been spent by him in combating the endless intrigues of Rama Raya who did not hesitate to bring the arch enemy of the empire namely the Sultan of Bijapur in his support. In fact in the initial phase Achyuta had to march back to the southern reaches of the empire to quell rebelling chieftans and this he completed manfully. In this campaign Achyuta had to use the services of his brother-in law, Salakkaraju Hiriya Tirumala, the elder Salakkam brother probably taking care of his interests at the capital, his own son Prince Venkata being very young at this time.
6. Thus the circumstances compelled Achyuta to constantly rely on the two Salakkam brothers for support to ward of Aliya Rama Raya's continuing intrigues; with his own queen Varada Devi and his other consorts sharing the harem quarters with the queens of late Krishna Raya and consorts of Rama Raya which included a daughter of the Dowager Queen Tirumala Devi. Obviously this situation had to be continued out of necessity. Achyuta Raya reigned as the emperor till the time of his death in late 1941 or early 1942. It is to be noted that the empire remained intact until his death.
7. Achyuta Raya was noted for his support of arts and culture in the empire with fabulous contributions to temples and religious institutions irrespective of their denomination. He was also the patron of several poets in his court and one of his Queens Tirumalamba was his court poet. The legendary Carnatic music composer Purandaradasa was admired and patronised by him. It seems Emperor Achyuta Raya himself was much given to music for he was an adept Veena player. Being a well refined and cultured emperor he was more inclined to peace than unnecessary violence or warfare. Probably this induced him to patch up a peace with Rama Raya by allocating him some position of importance.
8. Fernao Nunez seemed to have talked to the one person who did not like the Salakkaraju brothers on whom Achyuta Raya had to rely to counter Rama Raya and his cohorts. The narration Nunez got about emperor Achyuta Raya could have been from a partison person or persons who were supporters of Rama Raya. Unfortunately for this emperor as events turned out in later years, past his death, the elder Salakkaraju brother proved to be a traitor to the emperor's young son who ascended the throne and his own sister the dowager queen Varada Devi. From my reading of the history my understanding is this. If at all emperor Achyuta can be faulted this may be for the reason that he probably lacked that aura and magnetic personality of his most illustrious predecessor. But then coming immediately after such an illustrious personality in itself must have weighed adversely in the perception of this noble emperor's reign.
Krishnasamy Narayanan